Latest News

08/09/2010

A new joint publication from bassac and Urban Forum, Local Action: The Handy Guide to Communities Working with Councillors, shows that councillor involvement is key to the success of local community projects.

08/09/2010

Commenting on recent announcements concerning the Coalition governments ‘Big Society’ initiative, the Labour leadership contender, David Miliband described it as ‘ground we should never have conceded to the Conservatives’. To this end at least, there is consensus that social action by individuals and community organisations to improve and develop their local communities has all party support.

08/09/2010

Animation to accompany talk by David Harvey on the financial crisis. Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), a leading social theorist of international standing and among the top 20 most cited authors in the humanities.

03/09/2010

Adrian Barritt, Adur Voluntary Action, presentation to NAVCA Cuts Seminars Autumn 2010

This paper is the full version of an abbreviated talk given to support a series of seminars convened by NAVCA (UK National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) in Autumn 2010. Their purpose was to share thoughts about ways of coping with cuts in public expenditure, and the impact of these on members, in the context of the promotion of the concept of the “Big Society” by the new Conservative/Liberal coalition government.

03/09/2010

Simon Berry who worked with CSC towards the end of Every Action Counts has now left DEFRA and lauched a new project - ColaLife...
ColaLife, an independent non-profit, is working with Coca-Cola to open their distribution channels in developing countries to carry ’social products’ - oral rehydration salts, high-dose vitamin A, water purification tablets - to save children’s lives. The ColaLife Participation Ride is a sponsored cycle ride from Boulogne to Biaritz to raise funds for vital fieldwork. Your support is needed!

03/09/2010

CSC has been approached by someone at BBC Learning Partnerships undertaking research regarding Partner activities. Please forward us a list of your key dates for 2011 - events, exhibitions, volunteering days etc. that you are undertaking in 2011 to help form a response.

03/09/2010

Raise your voice and make sure everyone is counted!
There is going to be a census of the population in 2011, as there is every 10 years. The census will try to list all of the people who live in the country – but chances are many won’t be included, notably the ‘hidden homeless’ as well as destitute asylum-seekers.

03/09/2010

bassac and the Development Trusts Association (DTA) are currently consulting their members on a potential merger.

03/09/2010

ECA has been representing the UK for the past two years in a European partnership project looking at senior adult educators competencies. This has resulted in a toolkit authored by Bernard Godding and a team within ECA, which will be launched at an international conference in Bonn, Germany on September 20 2010.

03/09/2010

Speech at PolicyExchange yesterday

03/09/2010

Community Matters is collecting information for the Department of Education to identify barriers to community organisations working with their local children's centres to deliver children's services.

03/09/2010

Are you passionate about making a positive change in society? Do you deserve recognition for your work? Do you know someone else who does? Then don't let time run out to submit your nomination for the Social Change Awards.

deadline: 3 September 2010 (others); 10 September 2010 (yourself)

27/08/2010

Meeting at Elland House to discuss the Big Society Network’s (BSN) upcoming ‘Town Hall Tour’. About 20 VCS people crammed into a small room with Steve Moore to hear about upcoming plans.

26/08/2010

The Government has announced a crackdown on street clutter and support for Civic Voice’s Street Pride campaign as the way local communities can take action. This is a major step forward and vindication of the hard work of civic societies across the country.

26/08/2010

Architect's Journal 29 July 2010: In this personal account of urban regeneration in south London, Rory Olcayto juxtaposes a top-down development in Elephant and Castle with ground-up localism in Peckham

25/08/2010

Mixed coverage of social apps and the Big Society...

20/08/2010

These Community Matters seminars will cover best practice and ideas on recruiting and retaining trustees, with key speakers from the charity sector. There'll also be interactive sessions on using a web based trustee recruitment resource which has been developed by NCVO in collaboration with Community Matters, NAVCA and CSC. Please feel free to promote this to your members...

20/08/2010

Imagine if this ramadan you heard a story that made you shed tears...
Imagine if this ramadan that story you heard was someone’s reality...
Imagine if this ramadan we helped just one young person...

20/08/2010

This report charts ways ahead for public services: involving users in the design and delivery of services. It argues that co-production should be central to delivering the "Big Society" vision of the coalition government.